Hallo, Hallo dear reader!

Jorie Loves A Story, is a blog that was inspired into creation due to a reader's love and passion for the written word. She reads bookish industry newsfeeds, keeps a pertinent eye on newly published authors, is readily eager to book travel to independent book shoppes, athenaeum libraries, historical landmarks of literary interest, and book festivals, conventions, or symposiums; absorbs herself into the written word, cherishing each book she comes across that has the ability to transport herself into another time, place, and world. This is her journey, as she uncovers one book at a time that leaves her musefully happy for the discovery.

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Category: Hard Science Fiction

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the “Remnant in the Stars” an Indie Science Fiction release focusing on Space Opera. The tour is hosted by Tomorrow Comes Media who does the publicity and blog tours for Seventh Star Press and other Indie and/or Self Published authors. I am a regular blog tour host with Tomorrow Comes Media, seeking out new authors and stories within Science Fiction, Fantasy and Cosy Horror wherein my readerly journey takes me inside novellas, short stories and full-length novels.

I received a complimentary copy of “Remnant in the Stars” direct from the author Cindy Koepp in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

On why jorie loves space opera:

There has been an allure for reading and/or watching Space Operas ever since I was a young girl who became wicked fascinated with the Cosmos and the Universe. Even the new mini-series MARS (by NatGeo) has me enthralled – I cannot wait to see it! It became quite innocently enough – a mild curiosity, but it developed into a life-long appreciation of everything intergalactic and exploratory!

I am truly dedicated to old school story-tellings of the genre – inasmuch as I’m a purist who appreciates the original canons of: Star Trek, Star Wars & Battlestar Gallatica (who knew you had to be that specific?) – however, there is such a wide sea of choices to read and to watch across mediums of creative thought, I find myself wicked amazed by the discoveries I am continuously able to make!

Most recently, it was Ms Czerneda who charmed me with the breadth of her Clan Chronicles – an EPIC of a saga set in Space whilst Mr Sullivan gave me the kind of Spacer collective of shorts I was itching to find as well! You truly have to love taking on adventurous risks reading Space Opera – because in order to fully feel engrossed & a part of the stories, a part of your own heart has to take that daring leap of faith to insert yourself into the character’s shoes! This is one reason I love reading Space Opera as much as I do! You’re exploring the uncharted and unknown – your risking it all to see a portion of the cosmos most will never be able to drink in with their own eyes.

The allure of course is the wonderment of what is waiting for you to see & find; to discover the stories of the cultures and creatures who are just outside of naked sight and of whom live these ordinary lives light years away from our own world. There is a big wide universe out there just past this spinning globe of light and water we call Earth; by anchouring your imagination into Space Opera you get to creatively see what writers see as they enrich our lives with these fantastic worlds!

How truly blessed am I? I get to dig inside two of these lovelies by Ms Koepp and journey inside an anthology of shorts called FAR ORBIT soon hereafter!

Bring on the Spacer stories!

I heart this kind of Science Fiction!

Two hundred years ago, the Aolanian home world exploded and a remnant of survivors escaped. As their convoy combed the galaxy looking for a new world to colonize, they discovered Earth and were given permission to establish a temporary base while they continued their search for a new home world. When an Aolanian exploration vessel goes missing after transmitting a garbled distress call, the uneasy alliance between the humans and the Aolanians is put to the test as two anti-Aolanian groups jockey to use this opportunity to press their own agendas by foiling the rescue mission.

Because his daughter was onboard the Kesha when it vanished, Calonti Sora reluctantly signs on as an astrogator with the Gyrfalcon, one of the ships in the search party. There he meets up with an old human friend, Kirsten Abbott. Together, they work to overcome prejudice and political plots as they race toward an enemy no one could expect.

About Cindy Koepp

Originally from Michigan, Cindy Koepp has a degree in Wildlife Sciences and teaching certification in Elementary Education from rival universities. After teaching for fourteen years, she pursued a master’s degree in Adult Learning with a specialization in Training and Performance Improvement. Cindy has five published science fiction and fantasy novels, a serial published online, short stories in five anthologies, and a few self-published teacher resource books. When she isn’t reading or writing, Cindy spends time whistling with a crazy African Grey. Cindy is currently working as an optician in Iowa and as an editor with PDMI Publishing and Barking Rain Press.

Acquired Book By: I was invited to participate in Julie E. Czerneda’s #futurespasttour wherein I am continuing my readings of The Clan Chronicles where I left off last November. I participated in the #timeandstarstour on behalf of the seventh volume of The Clan Chronicles ‘This Gulf of Time and Stars’. I reached out to the author to sort out a way to read her entire series spilt between two trilogies: Stratification (the prequel) and The Trade Pact (inaugural trilogy) which launched the series as a whole. She offered to have DAW Books send me the series in paperback editions which I was blessed to receive and would have finished reading if I had hadn’t taken ill shortly after I read “A Thousand Words for Stranger”. Due to personal reasons between the end of 2015 and the start of 2016, I was not able to continue my readings until now. I have spent a lot of hours contemplating what ‘comes next’.

This year, I reached out to her publicist at DAW (at the author’s suggestion) to receive “The Gate to Futures Past” to conclude the scope of the series ahead of the final novel. I spoke to Ms Czerneda about completing my readings of her beautifully conceived hard sci-fi series by releasing my reviews of the books in graduated succession during the #futurespasttour; she agreed it would be a great way to celebrate. Therefore, ‘Ties of Power’ kicks off my showcases on Monday, 22nd of August, followed by ‘To Trade the Stars’ on Tuesday, 30th August finishing ‘the Trade Pact Universe’ trilogy. I am anchouring the Reunification reviews together on 4th & 8th of September. Right in time for #PubDay celebrations which were on the 6th!

I received a complimentary ARC copy of ‘The Gate to Futures Past’ the first novel the final trilogy of The Clan Chronicles known as Reunification; in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for my thoughts shared herein.

On where we left off into The Clan Chronicles:

As I disclosed on my review of Reap the Wild Wind this is my first reading of the works by Julie E. Czerneda. This is my continuing journey deep into the heart of The Clan Chronicles whilst conversing on Twitter via the tag #whoaretheclan. Occasionally alternating with #TheClanChronicles and #futurespasttour.

There is nothing more gutting for a reader than to arrive in the midst of a direction of narrative that not only pushes you to the brink of your emotional depths of despair, but it rebounds to give you a reason to carry-on and continue forward with the characters; such heart wrenching dialogue and expressions of absolute horror as realisation of what was happening was affecting the Clan one by one, heart by heart and family by family was truly one of the hardest passages I’ve read in recent history! Even moreso than some of the war dramas, because this was a blindsided attack, no one in the Clan knew they were on the brink of war or in effect being targeted for erasure!

Frantic reassurances of heart-kin messages were greeted by the enlarging loss which blanketed through the M’hir as more and more Clan woke up to the horrific reality of what had happened. The chasm of loss was so deep and so invasive, no one was left unaffected. Further gutting was the fact some of the Clan who fled to live for tomorrow were greeted by death only due to trusting their contacts would protect them by aiding their flight. This too, was horribly difficult to read – as your watching beloved characters meet their fates and you’re not in a position to aide them yourself. You simply have to watch. You have to breathe and you have to know there’s a reason for it all. There has to be a light at the end of this brutal tunnel of reverse fortunes and of cataclysmic loss.

The result of which was absolute chaos – wherein all Clan chose to flee and take flight away from the places they felt they would be in danger, only to find that some of their places of safety were equally unsafe for them to find safe harbour. The measures Sira and Jason had to take to escape was not for the faint of heart, nor for the ease of the future of their species; as they dared to go where none of the Clan in Trade Pact space felt was possible to re-visit! This is where Czerneda shined whilst re-bridging together the entire trifecta of her three trilogy series!

Returning to Cersi brought back the delicate balance the world encompassed – as I never forgot how important it was to follow the guidelines of Cersi wherein each of the sentient species who called Cersi home were bound to certain ‘living rights and regulations’ which kept each in turn on a rotation of ‘balance’ within their populations. It was a very interesting foundation of how life could succeed through ascension of transfer and by controlled perimeters where each of them could not outnumber each other without consequence. At the time I was enthralled by it, as each person on Cersi was never entirely safeguarded against a merger between Clans; similar a bit to the Drapsk, except that the Drapsk merged to embetter themselves and exchange duties whereas on Cersi, the mergers were fatal.

What was impressed on me is how we see Jason (being his cheeky trader-self) and Sira (taking lead in a place that has protocol!) accumulate to Cersi with the full blessing of their experiences prior to arrival! It’s hard not to smirk seeing how they are dealing with Om’ray and Tikitik and the Oud! Seeing Thought Traveler in a more vulnerable situation than he was normally viewed was wicked good, too!

Further interesting, is on my return to Cersi, I sympathised with Aryl – Cersi had changed!

More to the point – Cersi held the ultimate secret in regards to #whoaretheclan!

And, like most mysteries – what is in plain sight of all is the best hidden secret!

Notation on the Cover Art: I positively love the way in which Sira is portrayed on the cover for GATE! Her hair is electric – just like I have envisioned it, as it has it’s own personality & sense of purpose as much as it’s an extension of her own emotional core of being. Truly loved her clothes & the sense that you can tell she’s trying once again to ‘save her Clan’ from a fate worst than death whilst attempting to prepare herself to appear brave even if she doesn’t entirely feel courageous in the moment. Sira always had to make hard choices; she was never one to balk at duty or responsibility but she was far stronger than most of her peers & those of her extended Clan cousins. The background is equally alluring – we get to see the ships directly behind her and the Clan technology that is so far advanced its left nothing behind to explain its purposes is on full display, too! What dear reader is not to love about this book cover!? #suchstrength & vision of Sira!

Betrayed and attacked, the Clan fled the Trade Pact for Cersi, believing that world their long-lost home. With them went a lone alien, the Human named Jason Morgan, Chosen of their leader, Sira di Sarc. Tragically, their arrival update the Balance between Cersi's three sentient species. And so the Clan, with their newfound kin, must flee again.

Their starship, powered by the M'hir, follows a course set long ago, for Clan abilities came from an experiment of their ancestors - the Hoveny - conducted on themselves. but it's a perilous journey. The Clan must endure more than cramped conditions and inner turmoil.

Their dead are calling.

Sira must keep her people from answering, for if they do, they die. Morgan searches the ship for solutions, afraid the Hoveny tech is beyond his grasp. Their only hope? To reach their destination.

Little do Sira and Morgan realize it is their destination that holds the gravest threat of all...

The Clan Chronicles is set in a far future with interstellar travel where the Trade Pact encourages peaceful commerce among a multitude of alien and Human worlds. The alien Clan, humanoid in appearance, have been living in secrecy and wealth on Human worlds, relying on their innate ability to move through the M’hir and bypass normal space. The Clan bred to increase that power, only to learn its terrible price: females who can’t help but kill prospective mates. Sira di Sarc is the first female of her kind facing that reality. With the help of a Human starship captain, Jason Morgan, Sira must find a morally acceptable solution before it’s too late. But with the Clan exposed, her time is running out. The Stratification trilogy follows Sira’s ancestor, Aryl Sarc, and shows how their power first came to be as well as how the Clan came to live in the Trade Pact. The Trade Pact trilogy is the story of Sira and Morgan, and the trouble facing the Clan.

Reunification will conclude the series and answer, at last, #whoaretheclan.

About Julie E. Czerneda

Since 1997, Canadian author/editor Julie E. Czerneda has shared her love and curiosity about living things through her science fiction, writing about shapechanging semi-immortals, terraformed worlds, salmon researchers, and the perils of power. Her fourteenth novel from DAW Books was her debut fantasy, A Turn of Light, winner of the 2014 Aurora Award for Best English Novel, and now Book One of her Night`s Edge series.

She began her first fantasy series: Night’s Edge with A Turn of Light, winner of the 2014 Aurora Award for Best English Novel. A Play of Shadow followed, winning the 2015 Aurora. While there’ll be more fantasy, Julie’s back in science fiction to complete her Clan Chronicles series. Reunification #1: This Gulf of Time and Stars, came out in 2015. #2: The Gate to Futures Past released September, 2016. Volume #3: To Guard Against the Dark, follows October 2017.

An award-winning editor as well, Julie’s edited/co-edited sixteen anthologies of SF/F, including the Aurora winning Space Inc. and Under Cover of Darkness. Her most recent anthology is the 2017 Nebula Award Showcase, published May 2017, a singular honour.

Next out will be an anthology of original stories set in her Clan Chronicles series: Tales from Plexis, out in 2018. When not jumping between wonderful blogs, Julie’s at work on something very special: her highly anticipated new Esen novel, Search Image (Fall 2018).

I want to thank you for your patience! I have been steadily reading, no, a better word would be *devouring!* the end of the Trade Pact novels ahead of moving into the Reunification trilogy! You could say, my attention to focus on anything else has been ill-attempted, as I am even finding ways of bringing up the Clan & the Chronicles of their journey both on Cersi and within the Trade Pact universe each chance I can insert a small tidbit of my readings, due to how cross-relating the series has become for me!

You can take little nuggets of inspiration out of the Clan; their journey is not too unlike our own living history – they were attempting to build not only legacies of their culture, tradition and beliefs but they were determined to survive at all costs, once they felt they were in supreme danger! This has been true of the Clan since the very beginning – their entire saga is about how one cluster of people dared to think they could live ‘offworld’ amongst aliens they never knew in order to preserve their chances of survival in the long-term!

The reason I am thankful of your patience, is because as I hinted about when I concluded my readings of “Ties of Power” and “To Trade the Stars” – my readings have been delayed at different intervals these past few weeks due to extreme lightning storms! The last of which killed my computer but blessedly I was able to recover my personal files, which in of itself made the sting of the loss hurt less, as in the past, I’m used to having computers die without ever being able to get the files back! This made the transition a bit easier – as I have a lovely new computer in which to blog from and as I work towards understanding how to use it (ooh there is always such a strong learning curve when you make a switch!) I will be blogging my ruminative thoughts about “The Gate to Futures Past”.

The only hiccup really is that I had a bit of a migraine during the transitional process – as the settings on the new computer were affecting me a bit as the text was smaller than normal. I’m hoping to resume with the fierce focus I’ve had as soon as my migraine alleviates and thus, giving me the chance to share my impressions of the 8th Clan Chronicles novel! Don’t worry dear hearts – I sorted out the settings and moving forward from here, I shall not have a relapse!

I was able to release my review of “This Gulf of Time And Stars” – as foresaid, I haven’t been without the Clan for awhile now! Even during the most intensively driven storm raging outside, I’ve been reading the Clan! I’ve felt so hugged tight to Sira & Jason’s story – it surprised me a bit in the end, as originally I could never have fathomed how I could draw such a closely knitted connection to them, after Aryl & Enris!! I credit Czerneda for this – for if the Trade Pact hadn’t been a proper challenge to soak inside & fully understand all those moons ago in November when I first picked up “A Thousand Words for Stranger” – I would have completely been re-missive in knowing who Sira and Jason even were! I love being challenged by the books I am reading, and it was wicked wonderful knowing that if I hadn’t pushed myself forward to re-assert what was going on in Trade Pact space, I might have missed one of the best romances I’ve ever read!!

Being able to have a conversation with the author of a series that has become a beloved series of mine to read – where the joy of reading Science Fiction has returnt to me on the level I originally felt bewitched by what Sci-Fi can bring to your mind & imagination as a seventeen year old – is truly the blessing of reading Julie E. Czerneda’s Clan Chronicles! She’s not only re-inspired my mind for Science Fiction but she’s taken me on such a heart-centred journey into her character’s lives, I feel ever grateful for having spent the time I have with each of them! Even if they had to depart from the journey along the way, the moments I had with her characters are so cherished, I shall never quite forget the experience I’ve had reading about #whoaretheclan! Stories like these become fixtures in your heart and forever mark a standard of enjoyment that is hard to surpass!

I cannot wait to continue reading the collective works of Ms Czerneda once I read the very last page of the current release “The Gate to Futures Past” – knowing full well, it will be a very long, long wait til the final novel in Reunification releases next year! I’m on pins of anxiety already – I’ve come through the hardest bits thus far, and I cannot even imagine what shall await my eyes next year! I am bracing myself now, for Ms Czerneda has a way of surprising you whilst giving you an emotionally dramatic tale to etch itself into your own heart-print of memory!

If you are following the #futurespasttour,

I am thankful I can bring you a conversation about the series as a whole whilst encouraging you to read each trilogy in turn, if this is your first time finding The Clan Chronicles!

Be sure to stay afterwards and leave a comment or note for the author!

Remember: brew a cuppa & enjoy your visit!

About the Clan Chronicles:

The Clan Chronicles is set in a far future where a mutual Trade Pact encourages peaceful commerce among a multitude of alien and Human worlds. The alien Clan, humanoid in appearance, have been living in secrecy and wealth on Human worlds, relying on their innate ability to move through the M’hir and bypass normal space. The Clan bred to increase that power, only to learn its terrible price: females who can’t help but kill prospective mates.

Sira di Sarc is the first female of her kind facing that reality. With the help of a Human starship captain, Jason Morgan, himself a talented telepath, Sira must find a morally acceptable solution before it’s too late. But with the Clan exposed, her time is running out. The Stratification trilogy follows Sira’s ancestor, Aryl Sarc, and shows how their power first came to be as well as how the Clan came to live in the Trade Pact. The Trade Pact trilogy is the story of Sira and Morgan, and the trouble facing the Clan.

Reunification will conclude the series and answer, at last, #whoaretheclan. And what will be the fate of all.

I eagerly await to read To Guard Against the Dark (Reunification, No.3) in October, 2017!!

How did you initially conceptionalise the Yena to live between sky and land? As their presence on Cersi was such a unique one and quite symbiotically tied to their trade agreements with the Tikitik. You gave us such a living sphere of Cersi, first through the planet’s living spirit and then through its people. I was curious the process you took to create such a vibrant world?

Czerneda responds: In the Trade Pact, we meet the Clan as part of a highly technological society, surrounded by comforts and civilization. They aren’t merely adverse to living away from those things; I make it clear they couldn’t, not without help. In a way they aren’t whole, being detached from the worlds on which they live. Strangers there, not part of the biology. In contrast, I wanted to show the ancestors of the Clan as very much part of a natural world. I wanted lush, vivid, perilous and beautiful, seemingly immutable yet subject to violence. The jungle canopy is all of that.

It’s also stratified, by what thrives at different levels of sunlight. Many organisms in the higher reaches never descend to the ground during their lifetime, though may fall as corpses. At the canopy’s top, anything with wings soars across what seems impenetrable and mysterious, much like the surface of an ocean. For the story to unfold, I needed all of that: to have the Yena Clan unable to descend, as if trapped, yet with a clear and instantly visible escape, to us. For if only they could fly. Read More

Acquired Book By: I was invited to participate in Julie E. Czerneda’s #futurespasttour wherein I am continuing my readings of The Clan Chronicles where I left off last November. I participated in the #timeandstarstour on behalf of the seventh volume of The Clan Chronicles ‘This Gulf of Time and Stars’. I reached out to the author to sort out a way to read her entire series spilt between two trilogies: Stratification (the prequel) and The Trade Pact (inaugural trilogy) which launched the series as a whole. She offered to have DAW Books send me the series in paperback editions which I was blessed to receive and would have finished reading if I had hadn’t taken ill shortly after I read “A Thousand Words for Stranger”. Due to personal reasons between the end of 2015 and the start of 2016, I was not able to continue my readings until now. I have spent a lot of hours contemplating what ‘comes next’.

This year, I reached out to her publicist at DAW (at the author’s suggestion) to receive “The Gate to Futures Past” to conclude the scope of the series ahead of the final novel. I spoke to Ms Czerneda about completing my readings of her beautifully conceived hard sci-fi series by releasing my reviews of the books in graduated succession during the #futurespasttour; she agreed it would be a great way to celebrate. Therefore, ‘Ties of Power’ kicks off my showcases on Monday, 22nd of August, followed by ‘To Trade the Stars’ on Tuesday, 30th August finishing ‘the Trade Pact Universe’ trilogy. I am anchouring the Reunification reviews together on 4th & 5th of September. Right in time for #PubDay!

I received a complimentary ARC copy of ‘This Gulf of Time and Stars’ the first novel the final trilogy of The Clan Chronicles known as Reunification; in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for my thoughts shared herein.

On where we left off into The Clan Chronicles:

As I disclosed on my review of Reap the Wild Wind this is my first reading of the works by Julie E. Czerneda. This is my continuing journey deep into the heart of The Clan Chronicles whilst conversing on Twitter via the tag #whoaretheclan. Occasionally alternating with #TheClanChronicles and #futurespasttour.

I don’t believe it will come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the stories I love reading and sharing here on my blog Jorie Loves A Story, that when I find a strong relationship embedded inside the central arc of narrative, I am one reader who is inspired by how the relationship can become as addictive to observe growing in strength inasmuch as the rest of the breadth of the story itself! For me, personally, I love finding characters to root for and get behind – even if those characters are not necessarily a favourite at ‘first meeting’ – sometimes you find they warm to you after a further acquaintance is granted to you. You could say, my appreciation and support for Barac was slow to generate but now he’s become one of the secondary lead characters I’ve enjoyed seeing expand in-depth of place and person throughout the Clan Chronicles. Ruti on the other hand was such a sweet surprise addition!

There is a new character (Ruti) of whom I felt had the most interesting sub-focus in the novel, as her story is very Clan-like in it’s telling – cast into a new experience without knowing too much about what to expect ahead of time (even though for most generations ahead of her, they were given a bit more leeway of feeling more secure about this transitional period) whilst being offered a choice of freedom that most were not granted of her kind. She came from a homeworld of the Clan who refused to abide by Clan rules and regulations; in other words, they were more rebelliously rogue than the oft-times reserved Clan who shied from inter-species co-habitation. Ruti did not have an easy path to walk, but what I liked the most about her was her self-determined grit to make the most out of her situations; including warming up to Huido whose a formidable foe to most! She was the kind of character you’d consider the underdog and were especially grateful to have met!

Barac – Sira’s Cousin who up until this point in time seemed to flounder and cast himself adrift to wherever the next transport would take him, finally finds his inner compass of purpose! This was in-part inspired by Sira, then further nudged into action by the Drapsk but it’s finally his own conviction and trust of his Clan’s intuition that saved his soul so to speak in the end! I must say, I never quite felt motivated to seeing what would become of Barac until this time round – as truly, I felt as if I had seen him in such a different light of awareness as to find the benefit of his presence! He’s not the easiest Clansman to understand but at his core, his values and his goals are relatable to everyone whose a singleton. Part of his distemper and personal anguish was brewing below the surface of his blood out of a loneliness that he tried to suppress even from his own conscious thoughts! I felt he was vindicated in some ways and given a chance to mature into his truer calling wherein he found his happiness was not as far off as he once imagined! I love when characters who are succumbing to such dramatic spirals of self-pity are happily surprised by how life can change when they least expect it ever could!

I knew by the time I would start to enter into the cycle of the Clan’s evolving history inside Reunification, there would be a pull-back from focusing a bit on the individual story-lines and a re-shift of focus on the Clan as a whole. It is not only necessary but paramount to their survival – as everything we’ve found out about the Clan thus far afield is about to change once more – for how could we know all there is to know about them, when they themselves have been locked inside a sealed vacuum of non-memory!? The Clan felt they should remove their memories and the trace of their past ancestor lives from their minds, but in truth, it’s this stark absence of ‘self’ and ‘society’ histories that has led them into dangerous waters!

Even knowing this, I was still prepared for more forthcoming knowledge of what comes of Ruti & Barac as much as I had the prime joy of finding out what became of Sira and Jason (Morgan)! There are certain characters who you find a lead-way into their lives,… characters of whom give you traction and curiosity, whilst (at times) not the sole focus of a series such as this one. There is such a girth of story bubbling to the surface throughout the Clan Chronicles – so much to enrich your imagination, species to track and boundaries of both time & space to keep aware of whilst you dig further into the tome of where a three trilogy series can span itself into a beloved saga!

My apprehension to begin Reunification was palpable – not only because I knew I was on the very fringe of needing to find a way to say ‘good-bye’ to this world and the characters who felt so very real to me as I read their adventures; but because I also knew, there were far more insidious manoeuvres at play – where everyone was going to be tested for the strength and will to carry-on once the secrets were revealed and the truth let out the conspiratorial subterfuge.

To save their world, the most powerful of the Om'ray left their homes, transporting themselves into the void on Passage. They left behind all memory of their past, knowing only that they must make new lives for themselves among Humans.

Calling themselves the Clan, they settled among Humanity, hiding in plain sight, using their ability to slip past normal space to travel where they wished, using their ability to control minds to ensure their place and security.

They are no longer hidden.

For the Clan face a crisis. Their reproduction is tied to individual power, and their latest generation of females, Choosers, are too strong to safely mate. Their attempt to force others to help failed until Sira di Sarc, their leader and the most powerful of their kind ever born, successfully joined with a human, Jason Morgan, a starship captain and telepath. With Morgan, Sira forged the first peace between her kind and the Trade Pact. Together, they now search for an answer.

But it is a peace about to shatter. Those the Clan have controlled all these years will rise against them. Her people dying around her, war about to consume the Trade Pact, Sira will be left with only one choice.

The Clan Chronicles is set in a far future with interstellar travel where the Trade Pact encourages peaceful commerce among a multitude of alien and Human worlds. The alien Clan, humanoid in appearance, have been living in secrecy and wealth on Human worlds, relying on their innate ability to move through the M’hir and bypass normal space. The Clan bred to increase that power, only to learn its terrible price: females who can’t help but kill prospective mates. Sira di Sarc is the first female of her kind facing that reality. With the help of a Human starship captain, Jason Morgan, Sira must find a morally acceptable solution before it’s too late. But with the Clan exposed, her time is running out. The Stratification trilogy follows Sira’s ancestor, Aryl Sarc, and shows how their power first came to be as well as how the Clan came to live in the Trade Pact. The Trade Pact trilogy is the story of Sira and Morgan, and the trouble facing the Clan.

Reunification will conclude the series and answer, at last, #whoaretheclan.

About Julie E. Czerneda

Since 1997, Canadian author/editor Julie E. Czerneda has shared her love and curiosity about living things through her science fiction, writing about shapechanging semi-immortals, terraformed worlds, salmon researchers, and the perils of power. Her fourteenth novel from DAW Books was her debut fantasy, A Turn of Light, winner of the 2014 Aurora Award for Best English Novel, and now Book One of her Night`s Edge series.

She began her first fantasy series: Night’s Edge with A Turn of Light, winner of the 2014 Aurora Award for Best English Novel. A Play of Shadow followed, winning the 2015 Aurora. While there’ll be more fantasy, Julie’s back in science fiction to complete her Clan Chronicles series. Reunification #1: This Gulf of Time and Stars, came out in 2015. #2: The Gate to Futures Past released September, 2016. Volume #3: To Guard Against the Dark, follows October 2017.

An award-winning editor as well, Julie’s edited/co-edited sixteen anthologies of SF/F, including the Aurora winning Space Inc. and Under Cover of Darkness. Her most recent anthology is the 2017 Nebula Award Showcase, published May 2017, a singular honour.

Next out will be an anthology of original stories set in her Clan Chronicles series: Tales from Plexis, out in 2018. When not jumping between wonderful blogs, Julie’s at work on something very special: her highly anticipated new Esen novel, Search Image (Fall 2018).

Acquired Book By: I was invited to participate in Julie E. Czerneda’s #futurespasttour wherein I am continuing my readings of The Clan Chronicles where I left off last November. I participated in the #timeandstarstour on behalf of the seventh volume of The Clan Chronicles ‘This Gulf of Time and Stars’. I reached out to the author to sort out a way to read her entire series spilt between two trilogies: Stratification (the prequel) and The Trade Pact (inaugural trilogy) which launched the series as a whole. She offered to have DAW Books send me the series in paperback editions which I was blessed to receive and would have finished reading if I had hadn’t taken ill shortly after I read “A Thousand Words for Stranger”. Due to personal reasons between the end of 2015 and the start of 2016, I was not able to continue my readings until now. I have spent a lot of hours contemplating what ‘comes next’.

This year, I reached out to her publicist at DAW (at the author’s suggestion) to receive “The Gate to Futures Past” to conclude the scope of the series ahead of the final novel. I spoke to Ms Czerneda about completing my readings of her beautifully conceived hard sci-fi series by releasing my reviews of the books in graduated succession during the #futurespasttour; she agreed it would be a great way to celebrate. Therefore, ‘Ties of Power’ kicks off my showcases on Monday, 22nd of August, followed by ‘To Trade the Stars’ on Tuesday, 30th August finishing ‘the Trade Pact Universe’ trilogy. I am anchouring the Reunification reviews together on 1st & 2nd of September.

I received a complimentary copy of ‘To Trade the Stars’ the first novel of original trilogy better known as The Trade Pact Universe. I was not obliged to post a review or share my impressions or opinions on behalf of these stories. I am posting my thoughts for my own edification and to help encourage new readers to meet the characters Czerneda created especially if like me, they are discovering The Clan Chronicles for the first time!

On where we left off into The Clan Chronicles:

As I disclosed on my review of Reap the Wild Wind this is my first reading of the works by Julie E. Czerneda. This is my continuing journey deep into the heart of The Clan Chronicles whilst conversing on Twitter via the tag #whoaretheclan. Occasionally alternating with #TheClanChronicles and #futurespasttour.

The greater good in regards to Drapsk society was underpinned by their innocence and their desire to re-claim their own legacy. This is something that Sira noted on their behalf as she was becoming more familiar with their beliefs, customs and traditions whilst caught up as a Contestant in their search for the Mystic One. I could gather from the offset this was a pivotal moment for her as much as the Drapsk as they were not one to bend to logic or for any assertions on her behalf (as she questioned how they could view her as a special person of interest to their race) to test the theories of their culture. I had a feeling the Drapsk had a continuing story-line moving forward with as much of the importance as the state of the Clan itself. As mentioned in this snippet of my review:

The continuity moving through the Trade Pact is as bang-on brilliant as the one I had found in Stratification! You can see the stitchings of how this installment was cast within the previous volume, but so too, how Czerneda has carried forward the counter-measures of Sira’s Clan to act both for her interests and against her at the same time. There are two factions brewing closer to war – a war of mind, power and control, such is the way of the Clan. If they cannot control their source of power and the succession of the channels of where the power is funneling through each new generation, the Clan feels they have failed. Theirs is always a battle to achieve more and stabilise the insurrection that began the moment Sira felt she was strong enough to overtake the Clan’s Council. In some ways, I think she could have if she wasn’t knocked down along the way by those who would seek her help only to back-stab her in the end. A curious tenure of moving forward only to feel as if your moving backwards at a pace that is not set by yourself but by those whose intentions are never fully in view of your own mind. – quoted from my review of Ties of Power

The Clan itself was undergoing changes in its power structures – not in their sources of energy per se but in the structure of how they organised themselves. They had certain people at key levels of control who were not acting with the best interest of the Clan but rather their own motivations towards completing their own acts of harming the continuity of the Clan’s organic growth and evolution. At the heart of the conflict is the insistence that all changes within the fabric of the Clan’s biometric existence cannot be altered, changed or evolved. They are quite fastidious about not wanting any of their kind to ‘out best’ each other or to find a new level of existing that is not known to the collective of the Clan.

Counter-current to their biologic growth patterns is the rarely spoken fact Humans in this sector of the universe are experiencing their own set of changes, too. The hint towards that end was in the telepathical instincts foreseen in Morgan (Sira’s beloved) and how he was able to harness the power within his mind; even if for most of his life he walked in the darkness of not understanding it’s worth. This changed in perception and understanding when he crossed paths with Sira but evenso, now that he has embraced his power of telepathic thought energy, the difficulties now lie in being able to have self-control when he is at the height of his angered state where emotionally he experiences energy spikes in his behaviour. He’s not the best for wanting to temper his reactory instincts but without a modicum of self-control, his gift could become his downfall; which he well understands.

There was a moment of compassionate empathy in the middle of Sira’s time on the Drapsk homeworld that truly left such a strong impression on me as I read the trial of her choice. She felt with all of her emotions now that she was a fusion of both of her past(s); the one who was known as Sira Morgan and the one who was known to the Clan. Hers was not an easy life to walk but somewhere along this complicated route she had grown in the strength of understanding selfless acts of compassion. What she did for a species she had never encountered before was sombering and how she did it was such a beautiful testament of how the M’hir could be used for good rather than for evil. (all of this is contained in Chapter 25)

Shortly thereafter, we were encompassed by how the M’hir can function outside of its usual pursuit; having a lifeblood of its own accord and a particular standard of existence. Yet I oft felt how the M’hir worked or even interacted with others outside of the Clan was still being disclosed one story at a time. This is what was so incredibly layered about the series overall; Czerneda teases you at first with forehand knowledge that is necessary to dig inside the hard sci-fi elements she is expanding on per each installment, but then, you will find yourself arriving at passages such as the ones in Chapters 29 and 30.

This is one of the biological pathways of Czerneda’s breadth of expansion within the Clan Chronicles; she encourages you to take second and third ‘looks’ at everything you think you understand whilst giving you a biological reasoning behind why certain ‘things’ can be affected by cause and effect disturbances which seek to risk the status quo. It’s this compelling argument that has real-world applications if you seek to re-articulate what she’s trying to show you about how living environments are far more complex than what humanity understands on the superficial level of their complexity.

he a human telepath and independent trader, she now Speaker for the Clan Council, as well as Jason's life partner - are trying to forge a life for themselves free of the demands of both the Clan and the Drapsk, a race determined to claim Sira as the long-awaited Mystic One. And as if these conflicting demands aren't making life complicated enough, there are at least two other factions with far more dangerous intentions seeking them out.

Any hope Sira and Jason have of charting their own course seems likely to vanish forever when they are unexpectedly caught in a conflict between the Drapsk and a mysterious race that dwells in the M'hir. With all of their energies directed towards this crisis, will they become easy prey for those among the Clan and the Humans who are already mobilizing to take advantage of the coming conflict?

About Julie E. Czerneda

Since 1997, Canadian author/editor Julie E. Czerneda has shared her love and curiosity about living things through her science fiction, writing about shapechanging semi-immortals, terraformed worlds, salmon researchers, and the perils of power. Her fourteenth novel from DAW Books was her debut fantasy, A Turn of Light, winner of the 2014 Aurora Award for Best English Novel, and now Book One of her Night`s Edge series.

She began her first fantasy series: Night’s Edge with A Turn of Light, winner of the 2014 Aurora Award for Best English Novel. A Play of Shadow followed, winning the 2015 Aurora. While there’ll be more fantasy, Julie’s back in science fiction to complete her Clan Chronicles series. Reunification #1: This Gulf of Time and Stars, came out in 2015. #2: The Gate to Futures Past released September, 2016. Volume #3: To Guard Against the Dark, follows October 2017.

An award-winning editor as well, Julie’s edited/co-edited sixteen anthologies of SF/F, including the Aurora winning Space Inc. and Under Cover of Darkness. Her most recent anthology is the 2017 Nebula Award Showcase, published May 2017, a singular honour.

Next out will be an anthology of original stories set in her Clan Chronicles series: Tales from Plexis, out in 2018. When not jumping between wonderful blogs, Julie’s at work on something very special: her highly anticipated new Esen novel, Search Image (Fall 2018).

I devour books.
I read eclectically across genres and literary realms.
I celebrate #WeNeedDiverseBooks & #WeReadDiverseBooks!
I am truly a girl who LOVES stories!

I blog and tweet with a heap of bookish joy whilst soaking inside a story which gives me ruminative bliss! I'm a social reader who is wicked addictive to Riffle + LibraryThing whilst visiting the bookish in the blogosphere.

I aim to INSPIRE you to find a new wicked read which will leave you happily blissful to have found!

A Note on Content:

The content of this blog may not be suitable for readers under the age of 18. I am a hybrid reader of INSPY & Mainstream Literature - reading stories in both Children's Lit and Adult Lit regularly as well as other platforms stories can reside (ie. poetry, etc). I monitor content for language as I personally do not appreciate overtly explicit content in the stories I am reading (see also Review Policy) and I do not share images or book covers which I feel are questionable for content which goes against my own reading preferences. However, due to themes, subjects or topics discussed within the stories I am reading I am posting this note about the stories I am blogging about on Jorie Loves A Story.

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